Inside colossal Ellenton building, an entertainment empire gathers

Friday

Oct 4, 2013 at 3:26 PM

Feld Entertainment is consolidating its far-flung company in 580,000-square-foot facility on Manatee River.

By MICHAEL POLLICK

In two side-by-side buildings where an electrical giant once built the largest turbines on the planet, the “Greatest Show on Earth” is storing costumes, revamping train cars and preparing to rehearse circus performances beginning next year.

Feld Entertainment runs the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Feld bought the 580,000-square-foot former GE and Seimens manufacturing plant on the Manatee River in May 2012, and has just completed what the entertainment company calls the first phase of a multi-phase move-in.

The worldwide headquarters of the far-flung company — which performs everything from monster truck shows to “Disney on Ice” spectacles — is now planted in Ellenton, and Feld is a business on the move.

Even its production consolidation appears to be fluid. Though Feld executives are coy, they say more is ahead.

“I believe there will be two or three more phases that are going to happen over the next few years,” said Bill Powell, vice president of event marketing and sales, a Feld employee since 1975. “Which will mean there is more employment that will grow organically out of the fact that we are using more space, we are doing more things.”

Though Southwest Florida has succeeded in landing a number of prominent corporate relocations in the past few years — Air Products & Chemicals and JRL Ventures/Marine Concepts among them — Feld has the potential to eclipse them all in terms of workers and prestige.

Feld already has moved 300 jobs to Ellenton, and in a few years, Feld officials expect the company's payroll to grow to 500. During rehearsals, employment will swell to more than 1,000 as part of the $30 million relocation.

With 45 acres and a single-occupant building second in size in Florida only to NASA's mammoth Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Brevard County, Feld should have ample room to grow.

It will need it.

The Feld complex is home to several Ringling Bros. rail cars in need of repair or complete refurbishment, part of a 100-car fleet.

Feld's costume shop, with more than 10,000 costumes arrayed in six three-decker tiers 100 feet long and countless sequins, is even more impressive.

The company maintains 30 workers in Ellenton just for ice. Together, they maintain 13 portable rinks for “Disney on Ice” shows worldwide.

The same is true for monster trucks: Feld's “Monster Jam” group of mechanics and fiberglass crafters keep 46 such vehicles going despite crashes and jumps.

To date, rehearsals for shows like “Nuclear Cowboyz,” a motorcycle thrill show, have taken place in either Tampa or Lakeland.

By the end of 2014, all practices will be moved to Ellenton.

Marveling over Marvel

So, too, will rehearsals for Feld's latest show, which will bring Marvel Entertainment's iconic characters — including Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man and Thor — to the stage in a show called “Marvel Universe Live” in July 2014.

“I can confidently say that the entire company is focused on this spectacular new opportunity to bring these characters to life in an arena setting,” Powell said.

Feld inked the deal to stage Marvel with parent company — and longtime Feld partner Walt Disney Co. — in March. Disney bought Marvel in 2009 for about $4 billion.

Today, at least, the show is so covert that Feld has labeled a door to the props department “Top Secret.”

A few details have emerged, though.

Company chief executive Kenneth Feld has told the Associated Press the basic plot line will be simple: “The world will be in jeopardy, and the Marvel superheroes will save the world.”

But do not be surprised if circus theatrics and other elements bleed into the Marvel show, says Sarasota-based daredevil performer Nik Wallenda, who six years ago starred in a “Wheel of Steel” feature for Ringling Bros.

That is because Kenneth Feld “always seems to involve the circus in some way” in his productions, Wallenda said.

“Nuclear Cowboyz” is typical. In it, motorcycle stunt riders do synchronized airborne flips — three or four at a time — as flames shoot into the air around them.

Local jobs

Feld could be to the region's economy what “Nuclear Cowboyz” is to motorcycle shows.

To date, hundreds of white-collar Feld workers, in areas like information technology, marketing, accounting and so forth, have relocated to Southwest Florida to settle, primarily from Feld's longtime Virginia headquarters outside Washington, D.C.

“They are still coming,” said Melinda Hartline, Feld's regional public relations director. “And we continue to hire locally.”

One recent hire is Sabrina Cullen, a recent University of South Florida graduate who previously worked for three years at Coldwell Banker's Sarasota office.

“If you're career-driven, to find a new big company in the region is exciting,” Cullen said.

Applicants for jobs ranging from performing to prop care better have a sturdy suitcase, though.

“The very nature of our business is we are touring, live entertainment,” Powell said. “The cast and the crew, the folks that are actually out on the road, they will come in here for production, and then they will go back out on tour.”

To maintain its vast array of props, Feld in August joined the Sarasota Manatee Manufacturers Association. Feld registered as having 100-plus manufacturing employees.

“People think of them as an entertainment company, but you couldn't deliver that product without all the behind-the-scenes manufacturing that goes into the sets, the costumes, and everything else they do,” said Peter Straw, the association's executive director.

“They realized they could be more efficient if they rehearsed the shows they do in Tampa and Lakeland under one roof,” Straw said. “They bring in equipment, they do props. They do costumes. They have a dress rehearsal environment, and they can do all of that under one roof now.”

That includes building a monster truck from scratch.

At one end of the complex, with a set of garage doors large enough to back a semi and trailer into, Feld can build — and rebuild — one of its Big Wheel trucks from the wheels up.

Ariel Bollero, director of body shop operations, is in charge of giving each truck a special look.

One truck, called “Grave Digger,” has distinctive purple and green paint and features skulls on its side panels.

Bollero maintains his own scrap yard, of sorts, too.

Measuring roughly 100 feet by 100 feet, the area is jammed with brightly painted hoods, fenders and other parts that became separated from the trucks during “Monster Jam” performances.

Despite the organized chaos, the bright red hood of the “El Diablo” truck stood out in the salvage area. Bollero said the truck lost its hood during an August performance on Florida's east coast.

But the show had to go on.

Bollero's crew popped another hood in place quickly, and “El Diablo,” looking as if nothing ever happened, is now being revved up in Mexico City.

“I have been working with 'Monster Jam' for 16 years, so I am kind of used to those phone calls on Sunday explaining the damage, yes,” said Bollero.

For now, most of the 13-foot-tall trucks are out on tour. In September alone, Feld Motor Sports had five “Monster Jam” arena events scheduled in four countries — Mexico, the Netherlands, Canada and the U.S.

In early December, the vehicles will be back, prepping for a televised U.S. winter season.

As an illustration of Feld's impact on the local job scene, its “Monster Jam” truck department alone intends to hire 17 mechanics, said Henry Cross, senior director of operations for Feld Motor Sports.

Specifically, the company is looking for workers with heavy equipment maintenance experience and some skill in hydraulics and vehicle electronics.

But there is one other critical prerequisite, Cross said.

“If they don't want to travel, don't bother applying.”

'One place'

Besides living out of their suitcases, Feld employees often have to grapple with very tight deadlines.

At “Disney on Ice,” for instance, it takes three semis per show to tote portable ice rinks and the refrigerant to get them to 10 degrees Fahrenheit, the degree necessary to achieve a 1.5-inch blanket of ice.

On a recent Thursday afternoon, Bill Raley, Feld's chief iceman, peered into a truck as workers loaded more than 50 panels inside.

By the weekend, six entire trailers needed to be packed and shipped. One of the portable rinks was headed for Athens, Greece, while another was set to travel to Birmingham, England. Both shows were scheduled to start at the same time in late October.

For his part, Raley planned to travel with the Birmingham crew for quality control.

With new shows planned or ready to begin, most of Feld's rehearsal halls in Ellenton stand vacant, for now.

This summer, rehearsals for “Disney Live” shows occurred, and in 2014, circus practices will move down from Tampa permanently.

“Now, it will all be in one place,” said Powell, who joined Feld two years out of college, when all the company did was present the circus.

Feld, he notes, began staging rock 'n' roll shows in the 1950s and grew through acquisitions. More than 30 years ago, Feld acquired “Ice Follies” and “Holiday on Ice,” which eventually became “Disney on Ice.”

Later, the company established the “Disney Live” brand, in which Disney characters interact in stage shows.

Feld Motor Sports was created in 2008 when Feld acquired Live Nation Motor Sports. The division has since grown to include several motorcycle shows and races.